Kellis: "When You Love Someone"

I thought it sounded a lot like Johnny Cash — sort of old-school country-western but with a better recording. His tone of voice had a touch of Leonard Cohen. The song had interesting lyrics. The lyrics were actually darker than the mood of the melody. It was totally about jealousy, but it didn’t really become apparent that it was about jealousy until the last few verses of the song. I felt it could have been a little more powerful if it was shorter because it was a simple song. The song had a very consistent, clear, focused, emotional message, and generally I feel that works better if it’s shorter.

Marasol: "The Way We Do"

This sort of thing really isn’t my bag, but I thought they were competent musicians. The singer had a pretty good voice, but the lyrics and the arrangement weren’t my cup of tea. This is hard to say without being cruel, but it made me think of Creed and 3 Doors Down. The lyrics were cheesy…sort of in a Creed way. The intro had me interested. I was thinking the song might be really hard and dark until it dropped into the rhythm and then I wasn’t that into it. I think it could be really familiar and successful on the radio. Driving around Pacific Beach would be the perfect activity for that song.

Social Green: "Bombs and Tanning Beds"

They were cool. It was typical-sounding reggae. I’m sure they’re fun live. They’re kind of along the lines of Slightly Stoopid — that kind of lighter reggae. There was a lot of keyboard, heavy bass lines, and standard reggae riffs. They were pretty tight. It was somewhat catchy. I don’t know if you would hear that song on the radio, but then again I don’t really listen to the radio that much. It seems like they would have more of a smaller, local following, playing clubs like Winstons. It reminded me a lot of bands I have seen in the past at Winstons.